Game 21 vs Canes - Thoughts from the morning after

[penny lane]

I'd like to see less quotes from tanner glass and better play on ice!
4 points given away.

I think the pens played last night all "buttoned up." Didn't show any emotion, none.

When the play don't feel like playing, they stink. The scary thing is, they think they are good enough to leave points for other teams.

[thepittman]

Still not seeing the TK hate, he worked hard and moved the puck the entire game. There should be a long list a players on the bashing list above him. His line had a lot of puck possession and could keep it in the O zone.

Kennedy played well last night. Not bashing his last night performance. Bashing the body of work. Dude has made very poor choices for more than long enough to warrant the criticism.

He is usually one of the hardest working players on the ice every night. The rest of the team is like a clown show.

[RxBandit66]

First of all, Kris Letang is awful. He has taken no steps forward in his game, makes terrible decisions with the puck, and never could hit the broad side of a barn. And he'll get a huge pay raise soon.

How long is this organization going to go with Bylsma and his staff? What does this guy have to do to get fired? He's running this team into the ground and killing the development of the young players.

Finally, too many players on the team have lost their heart and their edge. They are going nowhere fast. None of the problems from the past few playoff losses have been corrected, and opponents have exposed this over and over again. If everyone had the heart of Craig Adams or Joe Vitale they'd be good to go. But too many players won't get dirty. They are a bunch of pansies most of the time, and it's evident that somewhere in the relaxed atmosphere and the makeup of the team that many of the players' priorities lie elsewhere other than hockey.

Other than that, the Pens are in great shape.

[brwi]

Canes used home ice advantage and coaching to get the Tlusty-E Staal-Semin line out there against Bortuzzo and they exploited him badly.

I think the Canes had lost 4 of their last 5 and they looked motivated to end the slump in front of a sold-out crowd. Ward was tough when he had to be early and then they simply out-worked and definitely out-skated the Pens into a victory. Both teams did nothing on the PP at all but the Canes brought the pressure all night and kept working until the Pens sort of accepted that this wasn't going to be their night and went out rather meekly.

[joe icepick]

Pretty sure Crosby was on the ice for four goals against. When your captain and the "best player in the world" is not backchecking and playing defense you got a problem. My take on this they need a coach who can scare the **** out of them. Not everyone's buddy Bylsma.

[Pavel Bure]

First of all, Kris Letang is awful. He has taken no steps forward in his game, makes terrible decisions with the puck, and never could hit the broad side of a barn. And he'll get a huge pay raise soon.

How long is this organization going to go with Bylsma and his staff? What does this guy have to do to get fired? He's running this team into the ground and killing the development of the young players.

Finally, too many players on the team have lost their heart and their edge. They are going nowhere fast. None of the problems from the past few playoff losses have been corrected, and opponents have exposed this over and over again. If everyone had the heart of Craig Adams or Joe Vitale they'd be good to go. But too many players won't get dirty. They are a bunch of pansies most of the time, and it's evident that somewhere in the relaxed atmosphere and the makeup of the team that many of the players' priorities lie elsewhere other than hockey.

Other than that, the Pens are in great shape.

He is? Where is the evidence of this? Who's development has he killed? What team did he run into the ground? The hyperbole against Bylsma is crazy. He's not perfect but baseless claims shouldn't be used to judge him. At least give something tangible.

[joe icepick]

First of all, Kris Letang is awful. He has taken no steps forward in his game, makes terrible decisions with the puck, and never could hit the broad side of a barn. And he'll get a huge pay raise soon.

How long is this organization going to go with Bylsma and his staff? What does this guy have to do to get fired? He's running this team into the ground and killing the development of the young players.

Finally, too many players on the team have lost their heart and their edge. They are going nowhere fast. None of the problems from the past few playoff losses have been corrected, and opponents have exposed this over and over again. If everyone had the heart of Craig Adams or Joe Vitale they'd be good to go. But too many players won't get dirty. They are a bunch of pansies most of the time, and it's evident that somewhere in the relaxed atmosphere and the makeup of the team that many of the players' priorities lie elsewhere other than hockey.

Other than that, the Pens are in great shape.

You mean Kris Norris Trophy Letang.

[MarioLives]

The stuff that freaks me out more than anything with this team is the personnel decisions:

-Bennett still playing on a checking line with Sutter and Kennedy while Jeffrey clearly has a better skill set to compliment his offensive talents?
-Bortuzzo and Despres' development taking a back seat to Engo playing every night?
-Kennedy playing no matter how badly things go for him?

Bylsma's horrible management of young players while having and insane attachment to other marginal (At best) players that impedes actual talent development of said young players is my biggest concern. Not saying Bylsma isn't the right dude for the job but if I'm Shero and i see this go on for long enough, i trade away players like Engo and Kennedy just to protect Bylsma from himself.

It's just goofy.

Agree 100%. I usually try to be as positive as possible, but I worry about they way the Pens management handle the young players. What is the point of drafting all these d-men and then not playing them? Anyone else ever wonder how Morrow was so close to making the team last year, and this year you never hear about him coming up? I say let the young guys play, can they really be any worse than how soft and un-inspired the current group of d-men are? Keep Letang, Orpik, Martin, and Nisky, other than that they should be playing Bortuzzo, Despre, every night. Just my opinion.

[Idoit40fans]

Morrow is in his first Pro season, not surprising that they aren't bringing him up.

[joe icepick]

They have to make a trade for a rugged stay at home dman now. Orpik is to old. Kennedy and a third for Boychuk.

[iWonTheCup87]

its def more than just losing a few games. I can deal with losing streaks but we look awful on defense the last 3-4 games against some really mediocre teams. We made the Canes look like #1 seed in the East last night. We were playing good defense earlier in the season i dont know whats happened. Even when we start off with leads we blow them all.

most of all we need to stop with the penalties at horrible times i mean glass throws it in the stands right after we score and Letangs terrible penalty in the first minute. They say they talk about the penalties but all i see is players getting sucked into the stuff after the whistle or they just take stupid lazy penalties.

one positive thing thought is at least the last 2 games we were outplayed and we were still in both games. Last night we hit a few posts and matt cooke failed on the breakaway. I know we lost 4-1 but it could have easily been 4-3 at least and a goal here and there would have changed the game. They just need to play smarter and they will be fine

[joe icepick]

Shero and his puckmovers were ok a couple of years ago, but the game is moving back to the way it used to be.

[Pavel Bure]

They have to make a trade for a rugged stay at home dman now. Orpik is to old. Kennedy and a third for Boychuk.

If Kennedy is as bad as people are saying he is why do people think he can fetch a player that would upgrade this roster?

[Idoit40fans]

I don't think anything has changed, you just can't be going north, north, north at all times. You need to know how to play in your zone and they built the team to own possession or bust.

[joe icepick]

They have to make a trade for a rugged stay at home dman now. Orpik is to old. Kennedy and a third for Boychuk.

If Kennedy is as bad as people are saying he is why do people think he can fetch a player that would upgrade this roster?

I'm not saying he's that bad, but you have to trade someone, and not are prospects.

[pens2005]

"Our focus has got to be on our work ethic and making sure it's there every night," center Sidney Crosby said. "We have to realize that we can't [just] show up and win."
"We're a good team, but we're a good team when we work hard as a group.
"We can't expect to show up in teams' buildings on the road and just put our gear on and expect to win."

I don't want to hear any more comments like this from the Captain and the best player in the world.

Do your job as captain. Lead by example, by showing up, motivating your teammates, and stopping
this nonsense.

If he were to say "no comment" he'd be blasted for that too.

He can never win.

[Hawkeynut]

- What the hell happened to Letang? He is brutal on the PP.
- Loosing Martin for any length of time is far less concerning than loosing Malkin. Mr 71 has to come back soon.
- I keep telling myself teams are not as bad as they look when they are loosing and are not as good as they look when they are winning. It's always in-between... I just haven't seen that yet and it is concerning me.
- Pens need another winger who can score and energize this lineup. Every game it is looking more and more apparent. While I respect and like Sutter's game, he is not the offensive threat that Staal gave this lineup. That needs to be restored. (dreaming of Iggy)
- Kennedy looked like he was trying for once.
- I am not excited for tomorrow night. The Canadiens are legit.

Trying & producing are two different things.

BEPF

I never said promote him to the front line or anything!

Perhaps he was just playing normal while the rest of the team came down to his level. Who knows, but I noticed him moving more than the rest.

[joe icepick]

"Our focus has got to be on our work ethic and making sure it's there every night," center Sidney Crosby said. "We have to realize that we can't [just] show up and win."
"We're a good team, but we're a good team when we work hard as a group.
"We can't expect to show up in teams' buildings on the road and just put our gear on and expect to win."

I don't want to hear any more comments like this from the Captain and the best player in the world.

Do your job as captain. Lead by example, by showing up, motivating your teammates, and stopping
this nonsense.

If he were to say "no comment" he'd be blasted for that too.

He can never win.

Just backcheck and play some defense, thats all.

[slappybrown]

This was interesting:

"Every team we play against knows what to expect from us," Crosby said.

Could be read as "every team we play against knows we are good and talented" or "every team we play against knows what to expect from us because we keep doing the same thing (eg, breakout) over and over."

[shmenguin]

we're 4-5 against the current playoff teams and are a hair away from being in the 7th seed position. just an FYI for the "it's just one game" crowd. this is a team that's capable of winning, but they've proven squat so far. it is very similar to last year - only with a significantly worse roster. we'll see what happens. we don't have any of the assets needed to make a splash at the trade deadline, so i'm pretty sure these are the guys we're going to war with. so if something doesn't change inside the locker room, this team is finished.

with that said...a healthy malkin certainly changes things. but enough to get warm and fuzzy? no.

[AlexPKeaton]

LINDY RUFF

[slappybrown]

I think I am probably down for a coaching change at this point, just for funzies.

[Henry Hank]

I think the issue is that all you hear from Crosby and the other players is talk. They always seem to say the right things and acknowledge what the problem is, but they never do the things they need to do to fix it. In this case, I'd rather see Crosby setting the example rather than just repeating the same thing about how they're getting outworked.

[Gaucho]

I think the issue is that all you hear from Crosby and the other players is talk. They always seem to say the right things and acknowledge what the problem is, but they never do the things they need to do to fix it. In this case, I'd rather see Crosby setting the example rather than just repeating the same thing about how they're getting outworked.

Exactly my thoughts. The excuses are getting old. That said, Sid is still the hardest working player on the team.

[Idoit40fans]

I don't have a problem with hearing it from him. Its not like he's jumping in front of a camera and making promises. He's responding to a question. That said, it would be nice to see his words converted into team actions.